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Printer-Friendly ModeIgnore the Instinct to see Stone's return
April 3, 2006 —
Basic Instinct 2 is a pointless endeavor, a fairly empty film despite the way it carries itself. There's some psychological warfare that begins to look interesting, then sputters and fades away, leaving nothing but an impossible storyline with a really bad novel as the backdrop.
As the movie begins, novelist Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), is under investigation for murder. Dr. Michael Glass (David Morissey) performs a psychological evaluation of her before the trial, which leads to a mutual infatuation between them. Tramell is convicted, which is logical based on the circumstances surrounding the trial, but then something wacky happens and the decision is overturned, mainly just so the movie can exist. If ever there was a movie that depended on absurd events, this is it, as they happen repeatedly until the very end.
Dr. Glass concludes in his evaluation that Tramell is addicted to risk, and will continually take greater risks, and won't stop until she takes the wrong one and her life is ended. Speaking purely in one-liners, Tramell is a pretty outrageous character, which is fitting considering that this is a pretty outrageous movie. Against his better judgment, Dr. Glass takes her on as a private patient after the trial business is over with. This is probably the most interesting part of the movie, as the two of them try to outsmart one another, with no clear victor.
Also, at this point the audience doesn't know just how preposterous everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen is, assuming it will be revealed at the end, resulting in the viewer saying, "I should have caught that!" This is not how the movie ends. Things make even less sense at the end. People die, and there are all sorts of guesses as to who the killer may be, most prominently Stone's character, despite none of the murders seeming to be "risky" There is a limit to what can be said here regarding the senseless nature of the plot, a line between what is prudent to reveal in a review and what is not, so for that reason no more will be said of it here.
Framing the plot, though, is the novel that Tramell is writing. Titled "The Analyst," it seems to be following the events that are taking place in the movie itself. Sometimes Stone's character narrates from the book she is writing. The thing is, it's awful. She is portrayed as a best-selling author, but who buys this crap? These awful bits supplement the ridiculous dialogue that the movie is rife with. People just don't talk like this. Not in real life, not in dreams, not in fantasies, and not in decent mysteries either.
Despite all this, the Basic Instinct 2 isn't all bad. It moves along at a decent clip and is relatively entertaining despite its glaring flaws. Tramell and Dr. Glass are about as interesting as two characters whose dialogue was written by a 12 year old that attended a guest lecture on filmmaking could be.
There is a desire, however small, to see what comes next in the movie, and it isn't until fairly late in the film that one begins to check the time and wonder when it will be over.
Not having seen Basic Instinct, I can't comment on the relative values of the two movies, only that this one is not good. It could be much worse, much more offensive, but there is really no reason for anyone to see it.